Bush’s domestic actions in conducting the nation’s
“War on Terrorism” threaten to destroy the very freedoms for which we are
fighting.Under Bush’s so-called
Patriot Act, even American citizens have been arrested and held in secret with
no access to a lawyer, no right to challenge their detention in court, and no
right to know why they are being held.Imagine if your spouse or child or neighbor simply disappeared without a
trace.This is un-American.

The Bush Administration now has extraordinary powers
to obtain private records and spy on Americans without meaningful oversight by
the courts.Based on the whim of a law
enforcement agent, the Bush Administration has the power to obtainour library records and e-mail records, and
even search our homes without a warrant.

By
disregarding our most basic rights in the wake of the September 11thattacks, Bush has handed our terrorist
enemies a victory they could never have achieved through force.Moreover, Bush threatens to veto any
legislation that Congressional leaders propose to protect our constitutional
freedoms.

Fortunately, Democrats know that “it is possible to
combat terrorism and preserve our individual freedoms at the same time.”Our freedoms and the right simply ‘to be’
are part of the promise of America.

I tell you, freedom and human rights in America are
doomed. The U.S. government will lead the American people and the West in
general into an unbearable hell and a choking life.—Osama Bin Laden

Bush
Created Unprecedented Powers to Spy on Americans.

o“Under prior law, if the primary purpose of a
search was to obtain “foreign intelligence information,” the FBI
could obtain a secret warrant through the court established by the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to conduct a physical search or wiretap
without notifying the target of the search.”

oObtain Personal Records held by
third parties including doctors, libraries, bookstores, universities, financial
institutions, business, and Internet Service Providers.

§The
FBI need not show probable cause, nor even reasonable grounds to believe, that
the person whose records it seeks is engaged in criminal activity.Normally, the government cannot effect a
search without obtaining a warrant and showing probable cause to believe that
the person has committed or will commit a crime. [ACLU, Section 217
FAQ]

§When records are obtained, the Patriot Act legally gags
everyone familiar with this from informing you that the government obtained the
documents.(Section 215)

oConduct Secret Searches. The
government can search your private property without probable cause and without
notifying you.(Section 213)

oTap Phones without subpeonaThe Government can tap your phones, without probable cause by
claiming that a “significant purpose” of the search is to gather
intelligence.(Section 218)

oEmail Snooping without potential terrorism or
criminal link? Yes. The Government can learn all the
people with whom you communicate by e-mail, and the subject line of all
messages, without having “probable cause” nor even “reasonable suspicion” that
you have committed a crime.All that is
required is that a law enforcement agent certify to a judge, who cannot deny
the request, that a warrant would be “relevant” to an ongoing criminal
investigation.(Section 217)

To Investigate
Individuals, Initiate Wiretaps And Seize Millions In Assets—None Were

Related to Terrorist
Investigations.

USA Patriot Act
literally stands for “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing
Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of
2001" andimplies
that it's supposed to be used against terrorism not against the neighborhood
bookie.That the Bush
Administration feels it can continually broaden government power to the use of
the Patriot Act beyond terrorism –related investigations negates the
protections every American expects from the U.S. Constitution and its Bill of
Rights.

ØThough the Administration has assured
Congress and the American people that its expanded terrorist hunting powers
would be used for terrorist-related criminal behavior only, a Justice
Department report in September 2003 “cites more than a dozen cases not directly
related to terrorism. In them, federal authorities have used
their expanded power to investigate individuals, initiate wiretaps and seize
millions in assets.” [Patriot
Act has been invoked in a smorgasbord of investigations The Charlotte
Observer 9/28/03]

Ø“The
investigation of strip club owner Michael Galardi and numerous politicians
appears to be the first time federal authorities have used the Patriot
Act in a public corruption probe.” [PATRIOT ACT: Law's use causing
concerns Las
Vegas Review Journal11/5/03]

ØTwo of Nevada's lawmakers blasted the FBI for
employing the act in the Galardi probe, saying the agency overstepped its
bounds. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Congress intended the Patriot
Act to help federal authorities root out threats from terrorists and spies
after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

"The
law was intended for activities related to terrorism and not to naked
women," said Reid, who as minority whip is the second most powerful
Democrat in the Senate."Let me
say, with Galardi and his whole gang, I don't condone, appreciate or support
all their nakedness. But having said that, I haven't heard anyone say at any
time he was involved with terrorism." [PATRIOT ACT: Law's use causing concerns Las
Vegas Review Journal11/5/03]

ØThe Bush Administration’s Patriot Act defines
domestic terrorism so broadly that legally permissible political protest and
dissent may now be classified as terrorism.The result can be a chilling effect upon the very freedoms that
have made the United States a beacon of hope and democracy throughout the
world.

o“The law established a new crime of domestic terrorism, with
a definition so broad as to include certain acts of political protest involving
threats or dangers to human life.When
political protest harms property or individuals, those particular harmful acts
already are punishable under various criminal laws.Sometimes domestic political protest
activity inadvertently escalates to violence.To allow such incidents to be treated as terrorism could have a stifling
effect on dissent.”

o“The new law permits information from grand jury proceedings
to be shared with the CIA, without meaningful court oversight.Such information sharing has been abused
in the past, as when the FBI routinely provided reports on domestic
anti-Vietnam War activity to the CIA.Thousands of Americans who had engaged in political protests became the
targets of CIA surveillance.”[“PROTECTING CIVIL LIBERTIES” People for the American Way
10/28/03]

The
Bush Administration is terrorizing immigrant populations, subjecting them to
the

fear of
being detained indefinitely and deported in secret.

ØIn the
immediate aftermath of 9/11, the Government detained over 1,100 internationals,
most for minor immigration offenses or petty crimes.The Government has refused to disclose their
names or their alleged offenses.The
fate of most is unknown, although it is suspected that most have been
deported.Deportation hearings for 611
of those detained were held in secret.[“Checking Our Balances”American Lawyer
Media's law.com 7/23/03; “Hady Hassan Omar's Detention” New York Times10/27/02]]

ØOf the over 1,100 international individuals that the
U.S. government had arrested in the aftermath of 9-11, only 3 had been charged
with terrorism-related indictments.[“Hady Hassan Omar's Detention” New York Times10/27/02]

ØCynically,
the Bush Administration has finally let some prisoners meet with a lawyer. To avoid
Supreme Court review of their long detention without being charged, without
having access to a lawyer or the chance to challenge their detention in court,
and without having any contact with the outside world, the Bush Administration
may release them to their home countries. “Australian Parents Have New Hope for
U.S.-Detained Son New
York Times 1/19/04]

ØWhen the
Red Cross joins Amnesty International and the Justice Department's own
inspector general in criticism, it is a sign we are perilously
close to joining those nations where a knock on the door at night means to
disappear.[“Abandoning human rights principles”San
Diego Tribune 10/20/03]

ØMore than
5,000 foreigners have disappeared since Sept. 11, 2001, with only a few charged
with any serious crime. Most are held in secret with no access to lawyers or
the outside, a procedure that has drawn the complaint of the Justice
Department's inspector general – who is independent of the attorney general. [“Abandoning
human rights principles”San
Diego Tribune 10/20/03]

Democrats
Fight To Protect American Freedoms.

Democratic Congressional leaders
have introduced numerous bills that would enhance civil liberties protections
by rolling back or limiting portions of the USA PATRIOT Act.

·Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced the Protecting the
Rights of Individuals Act (S. 1552) to narrow the government’s authority to
conduct secret searches of homes and offices, to access business records and
materials (including library and bookstore records); raise the standard of
review for obtaining educational records, increases judicial review for
telephone and internet monitoring, and prohibit data mining without prior
congressional approval; narrows the definition of domestic terrorism so that
those engaged in political protest are not labeled as terrorists.

·Senator Russell Feingold (D-WI introduced TheLibrary,
Bookseller, and Personal Records Privacy Act (S. 1507) would require
individualized suspicion as the basis for the application for a subpoena of
such records and would require the Attorney General to inform the Judiciary
Committee of requests for library, bookseller, and business records made
pursuant to this section of the PATRIOT Act. Senator Russell Feingold (D-WI)
introduced this bill on July 31, 2003.

The Bush Administration believes it has the power to make secret arrests,
even of American citizens, hold people indefinitely and without any outside
communication, even to immediate family members, much less access to an
attorney, simply by designating a person to be an “enemy combatant”.

·Jose Padilla, an American citizen, was arrested on American
soil and accused of plotting to detonate a “dirty bomb” that would spread
radioactive material at a target site.He was arrested and handed over to military custody, where he has been held
without any access to a lawyer or contact with the outside world.He has been held for 18 months and has never
been charged with a crime.The Supreme
Court is expected to hear his case later this year. [“Court:
President cannot detain U.S. citizen as enemy combatant” CNN 12/22/03]

·Yasser Hamdi, an American citizen detained in Afghanistan,
has been held incommunicado on U.S. soil for nearly two years.The Bush Administration recently said it
would allow him to see a government-appointed lawyer, but they deny he has any
right to challenge his detention or hear the charges against him.[“Terrorism Cases” PBS
Online Newshour 12/303]

Bush’sPATRIOT II:Protecting Freedom By Abolishing More Of It

The Bush Administration wants to erode our rights even further, with the
introduction of the so-called “PATRIOT II” proposed legislation. PATRIOT II
would codify some of the administration’s most abusive practices.For example, this proposal would permit the
Bush Administration to designate anyone as an ’enemy combatant’detaining us indefinitely, in secret, and
without bringing charges against us, even an American citizen arrested on U.S.
soil.

·The
government would no longer be required to disclose the identity of anyone, even
an American citizen, detained in connection with a terror investigation–until
criminal charges are filed, no matter how long that
takes.

·Current
court limits on local police spying on religious and political activity would
be repealed.

oUnder this definition, political groups that engage in civil
disobedience, such as Greenpeace or the World Trade Organization protestors may
be considered terrorist organizations.The expanded powers would include wiretapping authority, civil asset
forfeiture powers, new death penalties, and the unprecedented power to revoke
American citizenship.

·The
government would be allowed to obtain credit records and library records
without a warrant.

·Wiretaps
without any court order for up to 15 days after terror attack would be
permissible.

·Release
of information about health/safety hazards posed by chemical and other plants
would be restricted.

·The
reach of an already overbroad definition of terrorism would be expanded –
individuals engaged in civil disobedience could risk losing their citizenship;
their organization could be subject to wiretapping and asset
seizure.

·Americans
could be extradited, searched and wiretapped at the behest of foreign nations,
whether or not treaties allow it.

·Lawful
immigrants would be stripped of the right to a fair deportation hearing and
federal courts would not be allowed to review immigration rulings.

The Bush administration threatened
to veto legislation in Congress that would scale back key provisions that take
away Americans’ freedoms. [Ashcroft: Bush would veto bill scaling back Patriot
Act, San
Francisco Chronicle, 1/29/04]

“The Security and Freedom Ensured
Act, known as SAFE, “would modify so-called "sneak and peek" search
warrants that allow for indefinitely delayed notification when a person's
property is searched, mandating such notice within a week's time. In addition,
warrants for roving wiretaps used to monitor a suspect's multiple cell phones
would have to make sure the target was positively identified and was present at
the site being monitored before information could be collected. The legislation
also would reinstate standards in place prior to passage of the Patriot Act
regarding library and other business records by forcing the FBI to show it had
reason to believe the person involved was a suspected terrorist or spy. The
measure would impose expiration dates on nationwide search warrants and other
Patriot Act terms, providing for congressional review.”[Ashcroft: Bush would veto bill
scaling back Patriot Act, San
Francisco Chronicle, 1/29/04]

“The SAFE Act, which has not yet
had a hearing in either the House or Senate, was introduced last fall by Sens.
Larry Craig, R-Idaho; Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; and other lawmakers of both parties
who say the Patriot Act has gone too far."Attorney General Ashcroft's response today is an unfortunate
overreaction to a reasoned and measured effort to mend the Patriot Act,"
Durbin said Thursday. "I believe it is possible to combat terrorism and
preserve our individual freedoms at the same time.””[Ashcroft: Bush would veto bill scaling back Patriot Act, San
Francisco Chronicle, 1/29/04]

Vice-President Gore:Speaking Out For Freedom, Against Bush Power
Grab

Incredibly, this Administration has attempted to compromise the most
precious rights that America has stood for all over the world for more than 200
years: due process, equal treatment under the law, the dignity of the
individual, freedom from unreasonable search and seizure, freedom from
promiscuous government surveillance. And in the name of security, this
Administration has attempted to relegate the Congress and the Courts to the
sidelines and replace our democratic system of checks and balances with an
unaccountable Executive. And all the while, it has constantly angled for new
ways to exploit the sense of crisis for partisan gain and political dominance.
How dare they!